Design your own space mission

I'd like to start this thread purely for your own thoughts and ideas. No doubt many of us wished at some point that NASA or other space agencies did this or that, for example sent a probe or rover to a certain moon or planet, used certain instruments, etc. Space agencies have a very limited budget and have to stick to a strict science program, and sometimes we thing that the public gets overlooked. But here's your chance to outline a space program that would satisfy your curiosity, if you imagine that all the costs and resources are provided for (within reasonable level).


One kind of program I'd like to see is what I'd call Real Cameras in Space, or Ordinary Cameras in Space. Space missions return mostly b&w images, which have to be combined for a colour image, and the true colours are only approximated or guessed. I'd like to see a range of space probes, telescopes, orbiters, and rovers, that use the same kind of cameras we use here on Earth, and return the same kind of images. I used to have a Canon DSLR, and I often wonder what kind of pics I'd get with it if it was in space looking at planets, moons, galaxies, nebulae.

Another idea is for a lunar rover (equipped with the said "ordinary cameras) that, among other activities of scientific nature, would take photos of the lunar lanscape in earthshine and during the total lunar eclipse. It would also be cool to look back at the Earth as it eclipses the Sun, creating a red ring. The rover should also "visit" one of the Apollo landing sites and prove once and for all that we landed there


Looking forward to seeing your ideas for a space mission.

Just before I die, freeze my brain and put it in a little capsule and once in space aim it at any old star (one with planets around) and give me a decent push
Who knows one day something may find my brain in a box capsule link it up to a mega computer and maybe I can have a chat with an alien
I know silly but it is a dream of mine

Cool thread looking forward to the more scientific minds ideas
S&F.

Originally posted by boymonkey74
Just before I die, freeze my brain and put it in a little capsule and once in space aim it at any old star (one with planets around) and give me a decent push

Who knows one day something may find my brain in a box capsule link it up to a mega computer and maybe I can have a chat with an alien

I know silly but it is a dream of mine

Cool thread looking forward to the more scientific minds ideas

S&F.

edit on 2-4-2013 by boymonkey74 because: (no reason given)

A Kinder surprise capsule would be hard to find in Deep Space methinks and might melt when entering an atmosphere M8!

On a more serious note, how about something as simple as sending up a rocket with a "cluster bomb" like apparatus that will blow out a couple of hundred small signal emitting probes containing information about Earth and it's inhabitants and our wish to make *peacful contact with whoever may find them?

*chance would be a fine thing methinks

Kindest jesting respects

Rodinus

I have one I'd like to see. A planetary exploration mission. Nothing like the Mars rover. Nothing so elaborate or fancy at first. I'd have something following back out the same path as a previous Voyager and this time, rather than just shoot pics of Neptune and Pluto as it flys by to show the atmosphere, fire probes down through it with camera packs to film everything possible before being destroyed by conditions or impact into the surface ...whichever came first.

Ditto for a good, solid and ongoing look at Venus. Although with Venus (perhaps more realistic than the outer planets) it seems to me we could orbit a platform with multiple "shots" or probes to fire down into the planet's atmosphere on occasion to get another good look. They just have to develop probe packages that would survive longer than what has been tried before there. At least live to reach the surface with transmissions still running back.

There is so much we don't even know to guess about the planets in our own neighborhood. Time to get cracking with automated systems, I say!

Send Reality TV 'stars' to the STARS!

Big cannon

Any Reality TV 'Star' of your choice

Boom Boom Bye.

reply to post by n00bUK


I know you are joking but you may be on to something--if you want funding then people, space, exploration and television may well be a match made in heaven. I think a colony on the Moon would be a nice place to start...

Another idea would be some sort of runabout based at the ISS that could be used to collect space junk, after all the expense to put that stuff in orbit there has to be some value there

Mining for gold and other useful elements with probes and explosives on asteroids in nearby belts. It has the potential to make economic unstability a thing of the past.

I would start with first building a very large base on the Moon with an artificial environment that supports life. The key would be for us to eventually have the ability to construct rovers and probes on that base. Depending on our success, maybe we would even one day be able to build space craft their as well.

We could then launch longer Missions from The Moon by saving the amount of fuel that would otherwise be needed if we were launching from Earth. My end game would be landing a human being onTitan, Saturn's moon which they say could be the closest to Earth's environment. Titan, we must accomplish that goal. ~$heopleNation

Well, if you're going to dream, might as well dream big...

The ultimate space mission (with me on it of course) would be to establish a space colony. Free floating out there in the vast beautiful yonder of our universe... As far away from this place as possible.

I think a picture is worth a thousand words:



... but only the bottom half would be inhabited, the top half would have to be the picturesque view of the surrounding cosmos outside the colony space station.

Originally posted by GanjaBudz
Mining for gold and other useful elements with probes and explosives on asteroids in nearby belts. It has the potential to make economic unstability a thing of the past.

This would be a good idea ... if it wasn't much more expensive to send the probes there, compared to anything that can be mined there.

That's why we need to find a way to make space travel dirt cheap. The cheaper it is to fly out there, the more viable it might get.

Originally posted by wildespace
One kind of program I'd like to see is what I'd call Real Cameras in Space, or Ordinary Cameras in Space.

In case you didn't know. The image sensor on the colour camera for Curiosity is a standard Bayer filter, which is used in 99% of consumer cameras.

As for my space mission idea. It would be to send a dedicated mission to either Uranus or Neptune or both. Voyager 2 was the only probe to take close-up photos of those two planets and it was just a fly-by. So I'd like to see a Galileo/Cassini type of probe sent to them.

reply to post by jra


Not a bad idea at all my friend. Maybe we could throw Saturn and it's moon Titan into your planned mission? Just saying. ~$heopleNation

To start the Space Age for real space travel must become profitable.

Asteroid mining probes sent out with two things on board

1: A mining and assembly robot
2: A 3d metallic printer

Probe finds an asteroid with various precious metals and water ice.
Lands on the asteroid deploys robot which begins mining and processing metals into metallic dust to feed 3d printer.
3d printer begins printing components for a second duplicate of the robot.
First robot assembles second robot.
Repeat until say ten robots then printer switches to printing components for a larger printer.
Robots assemble larger printer which in turn builds larger robots so on and so forth....
Somewhere down the line a huge printer is printing both Probe and Spaceship components and a hydrogen/oxygen fuel plant being fed ice by the robots.
More probes are sent out to other asteroids and shipments of raw metals are sent back home to earth.
Space has just become the goldfeilds of a new era.
Soon exponentially increasing numbers of ships are arriving in earth orbit full of metals and construction robots.
Robots build huge orbital space docks and shipyards.Zero G factories and Labs.Robots spin the carbon brought back into nano fibres on a production line and weave a space elevator cable which is dropped down to earth...no more need for rockets to get into orbit...
Huge passenger ships built in orbit from the metals brought back no need to blast huge amounts of materials into orbit.
The beginning of our expansion into space.
By the time we got out there ourselves robots will have had time and the materials to build habitats, farm oxygen and maybe even grow food if we sent seeds etc with them.

Imagine it....

And the technology exists right now!
If you don't believe me do some research into 3d printing and robotics.

I am not satisfied with the work NASA has done in the search for extraterrestrial life. I would like to see several permanent web cams set up at strategic geographical points on both Luna and Mars. For starters.

Originally posted by JayinAR
I am not satisfied with the work NASA has done in the search for extraterrestrial life. I would like to see several permanent web cams set up at strategic geographical points on both Luna and Mars. For starters.

Another by product of the plan I put forward is that with the probes and ships increasing exponentially and going further and further out and the ships bringing the raw materials back and going out empty again if there is ets out there then one of the probes or ships will have to find some sign eventually...

All we need do is plan and build the first few probes the rest takes care of itself...

Originally posted by SheopleNation
Not a bad idea at all my friend. Maybe we could throw Saturn and it's moon Titan into your planned mission?

Well there is already a probe at Saturn that does the occasional fly-by of Titan and the other Moons. A lander/rover for Titan would be great though. Just need to figure out how to design something to operate at -180C for a reasonable length of time.

reply to post by jra


Yeah I have viewed the images of Titan from Cassini, beautiful. A Rover on Titan would be amazing though. ~$heopleNation

Originally posted by wildespace
I'd like to start this thread purely for your own thoughts and ideas. No doubt many of us wished at some point that NASA or other space agencies did this or that, for example sent a probe or rover to a certain moon or planet, used certain instruments, etc.

Why not do it yourself? kerbalspaceprogram.com...




Here is a mission to the Mun

Selective laser sintering is building of 3D physical objects from powder. It started with aluminum, where a thin layer of aluminum dust was swept over the floor of a small chamber then sintered with a laser under computer control, then continued one thin layer at a time. It's one type of fast prototyping. The technology has developed over the years, and it now it's done with various metals.

On the moon it could be done outdoors with moon dust to form an igloo of moon rock. You start with an airlock, then two robots take years to grow one dome whose shell is a foot thick and whose diameter is 60 feet or more. Energy is provided, of course, by sunlight, and the only construction material other than the airlock is the dust in the area, which should be cleared away, anyway, since it sticks to everything (individual particles have rough surfaces, not smoothed by abrasion).

So it just takes some solar panels, two robots, an airlock, and lots of time. Whatever control by humans back on Earth the robots may need can be done by volunteers. Some people would even pay for the chance to do that. Some would pay for the chance to spend an hour in a body suit that controls a humanoid robot on the moon filling one sandbag with moon dust and placing it on a fence made of sandbags. The next customer could control another robot to take video of the first as part of the deal. Each customer leaves with a DVD or whatever of the robot under his/her control doing some useful task on the moon, plus video taken in Florida of the customer's training, putting on the control suit, etc.

When a LEM lands on the moon, moon dust spreads at high speed. In past missions there was nothing at the landing site. But if a lander sets down near a base where there is equipment outdoors, that equipment, if close enough, will get sandblasted by that moon dust spread with great force by the retro rocket. That has been confirmed with simulations conducted by NASA. Takeoff doesn't create that problem with landers like a LEM, because the stage used for landing is left behind, and the stage used for return is above that (plus the dust was cleared away by the retro rocket when landing). Anyway, a base where rockets will be coming and going should be cleared of moon dust, and robots building a dome will use up all the dust nearby.

If the dome is to be only used to protect equipment from direct sunlight and asteroid strikes, it won't need an airlock, in which case an aluminum doorframe with rounded corners will do. And, like moon rock, the dome and its floor will be somewhat radioactive unless covered on the inside with shielding materials.

Apollo missions were expensive because humans were in a hurry to get to the moon once leaving LEO and had to come back. Dome-building robots have no such requirements. It's a one-way trip, and they don't mind taking many months to get there, not requiring life support. All that translates into a lot less fuel and hardware.

Then, once humans want to have frequent moon shuttles in operation, there is a type of fuel that can be produced in space using sunlight and adds virtually no mass to a spacecraft: positrons (antielectrons). This fuel can be made by collecting sunlight with large sausage-shaped mylar balloons, each transparent on one side and mirrored on the opposite interior face, allowing sunlight entering a balloon to be reflected and focused on a central collector to produce electricity for a powerful laser to zap 1-mm gold plate, creating a shower of positrons to be captured and stored in a magnetic bottle. It's all automated. A moon shuttle stops by the orbiting positron farm and exchanges an empty bottle for a partially full one, which, in together with propellant (which could merely be a teflon rod), provides enough fuel for a round trip to lunar orbit, leaving landing and return to lunar orbit to chemical rockets, because any kind of antimatter rocket emits gamma rays and should only be used where won't cause damage.